Katrina Aid Today

Katrina Aid Today

Katrina Aid Today, a national case management consortium, is a program dedicated to restoring lives and rebuilding families. The program provides long term recovery support to survivors of Hurricane Katrina. United Methodist Committee on Relief, UMCOR, the humanitarian relief and development agency of the United Methodist Church, manages the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA sponsored program. Nine national partners and sixteen grassroots organizations—experts in availability of benefits, resources and services—deliver assistance to 300,000 of the most vulnerable survivors in communities across America.

Consortium agencies are working from offices in 31 states utilizing case managers to assist people that have been affected by the storm. In addition to the $66 million grant funds from FEMA, donated by foreign governments, consortium members have also committed an estimated $35 million ($5 million from UMCOR) including in-kind contributions totaling $101 million for long term recovery.

The program assists survivors by the creation of recovery plans, identification of unmet needs, and facilitating access to necessary resources. Case management through this program is facilitated nationally through the use of standardized forms and direct data entry into CAN: Coordinated Assistance Network – a web-based database developed by the American Red Cross.

Consortium Members

National Partners:

* The Salvation Army
* Catholic Charities USA
* Lutheran Disaster Response
* Volunteers of America
* Episcopal Relief and Development
* National Disability Rights Network
* The Society of St. Vincent De Paul
* Boat People SOS (BPSOS)
* Odyssey House

Grassroots Partners

These organizations expand the reach of the nine-member consortium through their service to special populations of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

* Accepting Challenges to Improve Our Nation (ACTION), Houston, TX
* Asian Social Services Center, Philadelphia, PA
* Autauga County Family Support Center, Prattville, AL
* Hope Community Services Inc., Orange County, CA
* Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
* Mennonite Central Committee and El Comité de Récuperacion, Houston, TX
* Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League, Tulsa, OK
* National Spinal Cord Injury Association, (NSCIA) Bethesda, MD
* New Concept Staff Development Center, Inc., Milwaukee, WI
* Sabathani Community Center, Minneapolis, MN
* Sts. Joachim and Ann Care Services, St. Charles, MO
* Texas Interagency-Interfaith Disaster Response, Austin, TX
* United Way of Central Iowa, Des Moines, IA
* UNITY of Greater New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
* Workforce Essentials Inc., Clarksville, TN
* Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Seattle, WA

Katrina Aid Today's Mission

The mission of Katrina Aid Today is to help qualifying families achieve long-term recovery from the hurricane’s devastation. The program provides individual case managers to help individuals and families resolve the complicated problems and needs preventing full recovery. The mission recognizes two facts about long term disaster recovery. No single agency can “go it alone” and be effective, and coordination among many service providers is key to effective service.

Katrina Aid Today Case Managers

Katrina Aid Today case managers take time with each client to understand how Hurricane Katrina affected them individually and as a family. Together the client and case manager explore how the client envisions life when recovery is complete. Based on the client’s needs and resources available, realistic recovery goals and a plan are established. UMCOR trained Katrina Aid Today case managers to appreciate the survivor’s capacity to take responsibility for their own recovery plan, but also to care for the whole person meeting the survivors where they are and walking with them to their own recovery goals.

UMCOR

UMCOR is the humanitarian relief and development agency of the United Methodist Church, a worldwide denomination. Since 1940 UMCOR has provided practical support to survivors of natural and civil disasters to alleviate human suffering, without regard to a survivor’s religion, politics, race, gender or national origin.

UMCOR and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) were selected to lead this program because of their cost-efficiency and experience with case management in disaster situations. The unprecedented challenges presented by Hurricane Katrina required a lead agency with access to a national network of volunteers and resources to serve survivors not only in the Gulf States, but also around the country in communities that house thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors. UMCOR established its case management system during recovery from Hurricane Andrew and perfected it significantly during the 9-11 disaster.

Partners were selected based on nonprofit status, national volunteer network capacity and case management experience. Grassroots organizations were selected based on a similar evaluation process and are funded by UMCOR private funds.

External links

* [http://www.katrinaaidtoday.org Katrina Aid Today ] - official site
* [http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)] - official site
* [http://www.thesalvationarmyusa.org The Salvation Army] - official site
* [http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org Catholic Charities USA] - official site
* [http://www.elca.org/disaster/ Lutheran Disaster Response] - official site
* [http://www.voa.org Volunteers of America] - official site
* [http://www.er-d.org/ Episcopal Relief and Development] - official site
* [http://www.ndrn.org National Disability Rights Network] - official site
* [http://www.svdpusa.org The Society of St. Vincent De Paul] - official site
* [http://www.bpsos.org Boat People SOS (BPSOS)] - official site
* [http://www.ohlinc.org Odyssey House] - official site